PA TV music video:
"We won't throw down our weapons.
We treat the rifle as a brother"Nabil Shaath: "We are aware that at the present time
it is impossible to return to the armed struggle."

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority continues to present violence as an option that is only being postponed right now, because "at the present time it is impossible."

PA TV music video:"We won't throw down our weapons. We treat the rifle as a brother."

[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 30, 2010]

Tawfiq Tirawi, member Fatah Central Committee: "Our people will not lay down the rifle until our land is liberated."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 5, 2011]

Governor of Jenin, Qadura Musa:"Palestine is our land, and the rifle will always be independent."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 11, 2011]

Fatah member, university head of Student Council, Qassam Azmouti:"Fatah has not laid down the rifle, despite its call for peace."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 11, 2011]

Nabil Shaath, member Fatah Central Committee: "We are aware that at the present time it is impossible to return to the armed struggle despite its being the right of Palestinians."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2011]

The following are the full texts of these five recent declarations of support for violence:

PA TV music video:

"Yasser Arafat, rest in peace, rest in peace,
while we continue the struggle, the struggle.
By Allah, we won't throw down our weapons.
We treat the rifle as a brother.
We treat the rifle as a brother."

[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 30, 2010]

"Tawfiq Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee... emphasized that our people will not lay down the rifle until our land is liberated and the independent Palestinian State arises, with Jerusalem as its capital..."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 5, 2011]

Nabil Shaath:

"Nabil Shaath, member of the Fatah Central Committee and the movement's head of international relations... said...: 'Nineteen years of negotiations and armed struggle have not succeeded in bringing about the liberation of a single inch of the land of Palestine. We are aware that at the present time it is impossible to return to the armed struggle, despite its being the right of Palestinians."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2011]

Governor of Jenin, Qadura Musa:

"During a celebration of the 46th anniversary of the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution, at the Arab-American University in Jenin...
The governor of Jenin, Qadura Musa, said that Fatah maintains its principles, which it set forth in its first announcement, expressed as 'rebellion until victory' [known Fatah slogan], liberation of the land, and preserving and defending Palestinian human dignity. He also said, 'Palestine is our land, and the rifle will always be independent, and its aim is defense of the Palestinian people and its resources."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 11, 2011]

Fatah member, university head of Student Council, Qassam Azmouti:

"[Fatah] head of the [Arab-American] University [in Jenin]'s Student Council, Qassam Azmouti, noted that Fatah, is the mother of the first Shahid (Martyr) the first prisoner, and the first bullet, will continue to be the symbol of rebellion and a pioneer of the defenders of Palestine, the land, and the people. He emphasized that Fatah has not laid down the rifle, despite its call for peace, and it remains faithful to the oath of all the Shahids under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas."